The BBC has just wrapped up another series of their hit series Who Do You Think You Are? this time with some of the biggest names in show business making an appearance to find out their lineage, often with shocking results.
This year's heritage team took their subjects to America, Canada, Nigeria, Sweden and, of course, Ireland, with many of the celebrities featured having no idea how diverse and exciting their family history truly is. If you didn't catch every episode this year, read on to find out the biggest bombshells from 2019's sixteenth season of Who Do You Think You Are?
Mark Wright: Refugees from the Spanish Inquisition
Former TOWIE star Mark Wright offered what was perhaps the most poignant episode in the series finale, where the lineage team discovered that his great ancestors, among them a master swordsman, were Jewish refugees who fled the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition. It was revealed through old records that some of his ancestors may have even been subjected to torture, before fleeing and eventually landing in the British Isles.
Daniel Radcliffe: Criminal Jewelers
The leading light of the global box office smash Harry Potter was in for a few surprises during his turn on the show, not least the revelation that his own great-grandparents were involved in some serious criminal activity. The action takes us to 1930s London, where his great grandfather, who had recently changed the family name to 'Radcliffe' in order to disguise their Jewish heritage, was operating a jewelry shop in Hatton Gardens, apparently unsuccessfully. His misfortunes resulted in significant debt, prompting him to stage a robbery for insurance money. The police quickly cottoned on, landing the unfortunate fellow in prison.
Sharon Osbourne: Irish Emigres
X-Factor judge and glam-rock wife Sharon Osbourne's episode took us through a number of emotional twists and turns, as the show followed the struggles of her Irish ancestors, who she had no idea existed. Her great-great-grandmother and her brood fled Ireland at the height of the famine in the 19th century, as millions of other Irish did at the time.
It is for this reason that so many people around the world continue to use platforms such as MyHeritage DNA to find out their Irish roots, as the people of the Emerald Isle were forced to go far and wide around the globe in order to flee famine, persecution, and poverty. Sharon's ancestors, like most of the famine refugees, ended up in America, trying against the odds to build a new life.
Naomie Harris: Slavery in the Caribbean
One of the most difficult episodes to watch this season centered around James Bond star Naomie Harris, who learned that her family lineage consisted both of slaves and slave owners. Her mother came to the UK at the age of five, but before that, her family tree is mostly placed in Jamaica. It was here where the wealthy plantation owner James Langdon, a direct ancestor of Harris, owned slaves. The DNA test showed that her origins are in Nigeria, and it was likely from here where her ancestors were taken by force across the Atlantic to work on sugar plantations. Harris herself described the revelations as both "devastating" and "repugnant".
If you didn't manage to see the drama unfold in this year's WDYTYA, you can still watch the whole thing on BBC iPlayer.
